


The Darkest Shadow, the Brightest Glow

by caesiumlight



Series: Forces at Work [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, MAMA Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8760289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caesiumlight/pseuds/caesiumlight
Summary: “Don’t worry. Jongin is strong.”“I don’t like seeing him hurt. I don’t like seeing you hurt. I don’t want you two doing what you do.”“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, pained, wrapping an arm around Yixing’s trembling shoulders. “But it’s what we do.”





	

“Morning,” Yixing hums, reaching down and scratching behind Jongin’s ears. “Time to get up.”

The dog huffs grumpily, and pulls himself up from the foot of the bed to settle himself heavily on Yixing’s chest. He makes a show of getting comfortable by wriggling around, paws digging into Yixing’s ribs. 

“Oof,” Yixing gasps, and struggles vainly to push himself upright. “No breakfast for you, then.”

Jongin whines; it’s amazing how petulant a dog can sound, really. He gets off Yixing reluctantly, still sulking. 

“Good boy. Now what would you like? Pancakes or Purina?”

In response, Jongin perks up a little, and slinks off to the bathroom. He reappears two minutes later, Yixing’s sweatpants swung low on his hips, shrugging a worn tank on. Yixing blinks, reorienting himself to Jongin the human. He’s grown fairly accustomed to it now, but it still takes some adjusting. 

“Pancakes please, hyung.”

 

\--

 

Five months since Yixing had discovered Jongin and Kai were one and the same, and Yixing’s still learning new things about him.

“What are you?” he had asked once. 

Jongin fidgeted uncomfortably before answering, “A guardian.”

“What does that mean?”

Jongin was silent.

“Does that have anything to do with how you keep getting beat up?”

Jongin looked stricken.

“I can’t ask that?”

Jongin shook his head. 

And then there were questions Jongin was more willing to answer. Questions like are there more of you— _yes_ , where are they— _around_ , do you prefer a form over the other— _depends on who I’m with_ , what about when you’re with me— _human_. 

“Human, hm?” Yixing had asked, curious.

“Yeah,” Jongin replied shyly, fingers playing with the hem of the shirt Yixing had given him. 

But most times, Jongin would remain in his animal form, and nights found Yixing exclusively curled up against a warm, furry body. He thinks about how much meeker Jongin seems as a human, head ducked and hands clasped awkwardly in the front, and wonders how to ease him into his own skin.

He questions why he tries; perhaps he simply likes Jongin the human, a little more. 

“Was there anything you wanted to do, today?” he ventures as he sets down two plates of pancakes, and reaches for the butter in the fridge.

Jongin’s looking at him gratefully, so terribly gratefully, as if he still doesn’t believe that Yixing willingly feeds him, that Yixing’s pulse stutters. “I’ll follow you, hyung.”

“Would you maybe,” Yixing tries slowly, “like to come with me to the dance studio today? As a human.”

Jongin snaps his gaze up from his plate. 

“Only if you want to,” Yixing adds hurriedly. “I just thought you might want to try.”

“Try?”

“Dancing.” Yixing grins at the thought of the large black dog skipping at his feet, chasing butterflies at the park and leaping over fences. “You seem to like it.”

Jongin flushes. “Can I… watch hyung first?”

Yixing reaches forward and flicks a lock of hair out of Jongin’s wide eyes. “Sure. I’ll show you a thing or two.”

 

\--

 

It still happens. Occasionally, Jongin stumbles into the apartment bleeding and weak. Each time, Yixing feels panic snake around his throat as he runs shaking hands over the dog’s fur, searching for injuries he might’ve missed on first glance. He’s learned that Jongin doesn’t like being taken to the vet, so he’d clean the wounds as carefully and tenderly as he can, and then swaddle Jongin up in a blanket and carry him to his bed. 

Each time Jongin would look at him with shame pressing his ears flat, hesitating to lie down because he can’t decide if he’s still welcome. 

“I made a promise, didn’t I?” Yixing says that night. “When I first learned your name. I said I wouldn’t send you away. Do you remember?”

The dog shifts apprehensively on his feet; so very human-like and vulnerable. He bows his head, and Yixing recognizes that as an affirmative— _yes, I remember_.

“Then come here,” Yixing says, patting the space next to him, “and sleep. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” 

Jongin crawls up to him, collapsing tiredly into Yixing’s embrace. He whines a little, pushing his nose into Yixing’s neck. 

_Sorry_ , that says, and _thank you_. 

 

\--

 

It’s a good thing Jongin heals fast. The open wounds usually scab over by the morning unless they’re frighteningly deep, and even then, they close up within the next few days. Another one of Jongin’s secrets, except Yixing’s glad for this one. 

The dog shuffles guiltily into the kitchen.

“None of that now,” Yixing says sternly. At the back of his mind, he wonders how he’s come to read Jongin so easily, even in his animal form. “I’m making a cheese omelette. And I’m not going to be able to finish it by myself.”

Jongin looks longingly at his saucepan.

“Change,” Yixing says, “and share it with me.”

A beat of uncertainty, and then Jongin disappears into the bathroom. He comes out dressed in an oversized hoodie. “No fair,” he complains, causing Yixing to wink. “You know I can’t resist your omelettes.” 

Jongin had the tendency to remain as a dog for days after he got injured, sometimes even a week, almost as if he were unable to bear facing Yixing as a human. Yixing’s discovered that food proves a way around that. 

“How’re you feeling?”

“Good,” Jongin says quietly. “See?” He pulls up one of his sleeves to reveal a tiny scar on his arm, well on its way to fading. Just yesterday it had been a serious graze on his foreleg. “Please don’t worry, hyung.”

“You know that’s impossible,” Yixing sighs, and Jongin looks so chastised that Yixing feels terrible. “Here, eat up. Would you like to visit the dance studio again?”

Jongin brightens at that. The last time he’d insisted on staying outside to watch through the glass doors, but when Yixing had finished class Jongin ran up to him, excited and awed. “Hyung was amazing,” he declared, and Yixing had been surprisingly flustered by the compliment. 

“Could I…”

“Yes?”

“Today, could I try?”

Yixing beams, profoundly pleased. “Of course you can. Would you like to attend my class? Or if you rather, there’re other instructors.” 

Jongin shakes his head. “I’ll follow you, hyung.”

 

\--

 

Jongin brings back a cat with a deep gash in its side. It’s almost automatic now; Yixing drops the book he’d been reading, and shoots up to grab his first-aid kit. He presses a gauze soaked in cleaning solution on the wound, while Jongin pants agitatedly at his side. 

“We’ve got him, Jongin,” Yixing says, even as the cat cries wretchedly. He changes the blood-soaked gauze for a fresh one. “We’ve got him.” 

The cat sleeps with them that night, with Yixing’s arms curled carefully around it. 

The next morning, Yixing’s greeted with a mop of reddish brown hair, and a cheerful, unfamiliar face inches from his own. 

“Thanks, you really saved me!” 

Yixing blinks once, twice, questions his own sanity at accepting guardians-or-whatever-they-call-themselves-slash-shapeshifters who enjoy taking up residence at his place so easily, and goes to make breakfast. 

Baekhyun, as it turns out, talks a lot more than Jongin, and clings a lot more as well. He’s practically hanging off Yixing’s back, peering with wide-eyed anticipation at the pot as Yixing prepares a creamed mushroom soup for all of them. Yixing doesn’t mind. He likes Baekhyun already. 

They’re both startled by an unhappy growling behind them. It’s Jongin, still in dog form, upset and tense. 

“What’s the matter,” Yixing asks, concerned. “Are you hurt?”

Jongin huffs— _no_ , and then he stalks off to the bathroom. Yixing thinks he hears the door slam. 

“Hmm,” Baekhyun says, and it sounds mischievous. He slides off Yixing’s back and obediently sits himself at the kitchen counter instead. “I’ll play it nice this time, since he got me to you after all.”

Yixing tilts his head at Baekhyun. “Huh?”

Baekhyun giggles. “ _Ah_ , you’re cute.”

Yixing frowns. “I am not.”

“Never you mind,” Bakehyun says cheekily. He’s still grinning when Jongin grumpily slides in at the table, and leaves the house only after rubbing his fur against Yixing’s ankles, purring smugly. 

 

\--

 

“I want to go shopping.”

“What were you thinking of?” 

Jongin crosses his arms, defensive, unwilling to tell. 

“Okay, okay,” Yixing says, amused. “You can get whatever you want. So as long as it doesn’t bankrupt me.” 

Jongin pulls Yixing into a pet store, and picks up a wicker bed basket for dogs. Yixing’s surprised, and not a little stung. He tries to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he pays for it. He’s grown accustomed to sleeping with Jongin bundled next to him, and waking with the dog’s nose pressed to his collarbone, warm and cozy. Perhaps Jongin wants some space now, and Yixing doesn’t want to deny him that. 

So he’s confused when after setting up the new bed that night, Jongin walks right by it and jumps into Yixing’s. He paws at the pillow, and gives Yixing a look— _are you coming?_

Yixing tumbles in after him, bewildered but comforted, rubbing Jongin’s back affectionately. “I don’t get you sometimes, you know?” 

Two days later, Baekhyun visits again, with fresh scars. Yixing frets, cleans them as best as he can while entreating the cat to be more careful. When he’s done, he moves to pick Baekhyun up. Jongin stops him with a butt of his head against Yixing’s knee. The dog scampers over to the wicker basket, and gestures with his paw. 

_Oh_.

“Jongin,” Yixing admonishes, but it’s hard to keep a straight face when all he wants to do is laugh. The nerve of the boy. “That’s no way to treat our guest.”

Baekhyun meows crossly as if to agree, but Jongin nudges the basket forward insistently, and yips cheerfully. 

“I guess you’re sleeping there today, Baekhyun.”

Yixing swears he sees the cat rolls his eyes. 

 

\--

 

Yixing wakes in the middle of the night to a missing presence in the bed. The spot next to him is still warm. 

“Jongin?” he calls softly. He glances at the wicker basket; Baekhyun’s still asleep. Yixing climbs out of the covers, disoriented. There’s a noise by the door, and he staggers his way past the living room just in time to see it swing close with a soft snick. “Jongin,” he repeats, urgently this time. He reaches for the handle and wrenches the door open. “Where are you going?” 

But his question is thrown into the empty doorway, and carried away by the howling wind. Yixing shivers. It’s autumn, but it’s unlike the weather here to be so cold. 

“Jongin,” he tries again, desperately, but receives no answer. 

Sleep comes only in short, fitful bursts, and at dawn, Yixing jerks awake to a gentle hand running through his hair. Baekhyun has a half-healed cut on his cheek. 

“Don’t worry. Jongin is strong.” 

“I don’t like seeing him hurt. I don’t like seeing you hurt. I don’t want you two doing what you do.”

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, pained, wrapping an arm around Yixing’s trembling shoulders. “But it’s what we do.” 

They sit in silence for an hour, maybe two, and then the door creaks open and Yixing is scrambling forward to cradle a near unconscious dog. There’re no visible injuries this time, but Jongin’s breathing is shallow. 

“What’s wrong,” he asks Baekhyun frantically. 

“Just exhaustion,” Baekhyun replies, running his hands over Jongin’s prone body. “It’s alright hyung, he’s fine.” 

Together, they lift Jongin carefully onto the bed. Yixing arranges the blankets around him. He startles when he feels a furry nudge at his ankle. The cat rubs his cheek against him affectionately, and then turns to leave. 

“Wait, Baekhyun,” Yixing calls, an edge of panic in his voice. “Don’t—is it your turn, now?” 

A slow blink— _yes_ , and Yixing’s heart clenches.

 

\--

 

The dog licks Yixing’s cheek, and then totters over to the bathroom. A minute later, Jongin reappears, and takes Yixing’s hands into his own, pressing a soft kiss to his knuckles. 

“I’m sorry.”

Yixing sighs. “You and Baekhyun keep doing that. Don’t apologize. Explain. Please.” 

“There are forces at work here that you humans are unaware of.” Jongin grimaces. “Well, _should_ be unaware of.”

“These forces… are bad?”

Jongin gives a humourless, tired, laugh. “It’s a little more complicated than that. But bad is pretty apt. As guardians, we protect you from them.” 

“And in return, you get hurt.”

“I’m fine, hyung.”

“ _Fine?_ ” Yixing hisses, causing Jongin to flinch. “Sometimes your wounds… They look… The pain you must be in…” Yixing pauses, fumbling with his words. “I don’t think you understand what that does to me.”

Jongin ducks his head. “I’ve been selfish, haven’t I? What an awful burden I’ve placed on you.” His grip on Yixing’s hands slackens. “I won’t hold it against you, hyung, if you choose to—”

“I’m not sending you away,” Yixing nearly snaps. “Not ever,” he amends in a softer tone, at Jongin’s stunned expression. “You’ll come back, and I’ll patch you up, and you can go out again and do what you need to do, but only if you promise to come back, okay?”

“I don’t deserve you,” Jongin says, sounding dazed.

“You’re protecting me from evil witches and demons. I’d say you deserve omelettes for breakfast, every day, for the rest of your life.”

He beckons Jongin over. Jongin crawls into bed hesitantly, and Yixing pulls the covers around them both. He wakes in the morning feeling different, but comfortable. It takes a moment for him to realize it’s because of the human nose, pressed against his collarbone, and the arms wrapped tightly around him. 

 

\--

 

They fall into a routine. Yixing makes breakfast. Goes to school, comes home. Jongin follows Yixing to dance class, where he moves so splendidly that Yixing thinks he’ll go out of a job. Yixing prepares dinner. They fall asleep together, Jongin curled protectively around him. Sometimes Jongin leaves in the middle of the night. Goes to do whatever he does, and comes back barely hanging by a thread. Yixing fixes him up.

Baekhyun visits on occasion, and tries to sleep in between the both of them. Eventually, Yixing is introduced to Sehun. Then Chanyeol. Then Junmyeon, Jongdae, Minseok, and Kyungsoo. With all the experience he’s getting tending to wounded animals, Yixing begins to consider veterinary medicine as a future profession.

“You guys are gonna shave five years off my life,” Yixing says through gritted teeth, as he ties a makeshift splint onto Kyungsoo’s broken wing. 

The owl hoots sympathetically in apology, and the next morning, Yixing’s greeted by a lovely smell wafting from the kitchen. Kyungsoo’s prepared breakfast, some fried rice with eggs and luncheon meat, and he stands to the side of the counter nervously waiting for Yixing’s verdict. 

“This is delicious.” He smiles when he sees Kyungsoo’s face light up. “It’s nice to have someone cook for me, for once,” he adds, looking at Jongin pointedly. 

Jongin very decidedly ignores him. 

“Wait, how on earth did you manage this with a broken arm?”

“We mend pretty easily.” Kyungsoo flexes his arm in demonstration. “Though it feels as if my arm healed faster than normal this time.”

“Yixing hyung’s really good with first-aid.” 

Kyungsoo hums thoughtfully. “Maybe.” 

 

\--

 

The path back to his apartment runs through a park. Between juggling school, dance classes, and the stress from having to watch Jongin—or any one of them for that matter—leave his front door, Yixing’s feeling rubbed raw and worn out, like too little butter spread on too much bread. Selfishly, he wonders what it’d mean for the rest of the world if he kept the guardians to himself, safely locked away in his home. 

It’s cold. Yixing rubs his hands together. 

“Hello, young man,” a stranger greets, settling next to him on the bench. “Forgot your gloves?”

Yixing smiles pleasantly. “I’m afraid so.”

“Perhaps I can help,” and the stranger reaches forward and clutches Yixing’s hands.

Shock, first, followed by an icy coldness that spills over to the rest of his body, paralyzing him. Terrified, Yixing tries to struggle and pull away, but he’s caught in a death-grip. Breath coming up in increasingly shallow puffs, Yixing’s head spins as he watches the stranger’s form meld into something unworldly, indescribable, just a cluster of darkness writhing and curling together like a ball of snakes. They twist up his arms, sinking into his skin and crawling spider web like through his veins.

Helpless to the agony, Yixing screams. 

An angry howl, and then a dog shoots forward and sinks its teeth into the dark mass holding Yixing captive. There’s an inhumane screech, and Yixing’s released from its excruciating hold. He falls to the floor with a thump, unable to control the movement of his limbs. The black web under his skin continues to disseminate, up his arms, to his shoulders, down to his heart. 

“Yixing, _Yixing!_ ” It’s Baekhyun. “Breathe, breathe, let me—”

A dazzling gleam blinds him, and Baekhyun wreathes himself in light. He presses glowing hands to Yixing’s heart. 

“Shit, shit, shit, I can’t stop it! Jongin! I can’t stop it, the poison’s sunk in too deep!” 

The dog jerks its head towards them, and Yixing sees in its eyes so much; he’s always been able to read Jongin so easily. There’s too much guilt there, terror, pain and adoration.

 _This isn’t your fault_ , he wants to tell Jongin, but hasn’t the strength to. 

“I’ve taken him,” a sinister voice booms, alight with glee. “I’ve taken your healer! The guardians are no more!” 

“Yixing,” Baekhyun begs, tears streaming down his face. “Fight it, please, you can’t do this to us, please don’t do this to us.”

 _I’m trying_ , but the black tendrils keep spreading, hooking into lung and kidney and heart and Yixing feels his life fading. 

He’s so cold. 

The dog emits an enraged snarl and rips toward the demonic form, abandoning all sense as he carelessly throws himself forward, scrabbling, biting, and tearing. 

“Jongin, no!” Baekhyun cries. “You can’t defeat him on your own, you’ll be killed!”

Jongin’s flung back, colliding into a lamppost with a sickening thud. But he shakes himself off, gets to his feet and tries again. The figure swirling in the air is too powerful; Jongin’s attacks glance off him like water on a blade, and he’s repelled back with increasing force.

It happens again, and again, and again, until crushed and drained, Jongin’s no longer able to stand. 

“Guardian of shadow,” the voice sneers. “Do you value your life so poorly? I’ll put an end to your misery.” 

_No_ , Yixing thinks as he sees the misshapen figure approach the bleeding, broken, dog.

_No. I won’t let you._

_No!_

Something warm and rejuvenating washes through him; a reserve of power he never knew he had, banishing the toxic vines within him and burning them away like fire takes to dry grass. The fogginess and pain in his head clears, his lungs open and he sucks in a breath of blessed air. Yixing pulls himself up with renewed strength in his limbs, meeting Baekhyun’s shell-shocked gaze. 

“Stay back, Baekhyun-ah,” he says, placing a hand on the guardian of light’s shoulder. “It’s my turn now.”

“Impossible,” the voice shrieks. 

“Silence,” Yixing commands, and the voice falls quiet. Yixing hears Baekhyun’s strangled gasp. “ _You’ll wait._ ” 

He crouches before Jongin, who whimpers when Yixing places both hands on him. The well of life within him surges forward into Jongin, mending bone and knitting sinew back in place. The dog lifts his head weakly, looks at Yixing in wonder— _how?_

“I don’t know,” Yixing says fondly, scratching behind Jongin’s ears. “But I’m gonna show him what happens when he hurts those I love.” 

 

\--

 

“Yixing hyung told him to _shut up!_ " Baekhyun pauses for dramatic emphasis, and a chorus of _oohs_ goes around. "And then, and then, Yixing hyung grabbed him, and he went poof!”

“Yixing went poof?” Sehun asks dryly. 

“No,” Baekhyun says, rolling his eyes. “Mama! Yixing hyung just held him in his hands, and Mama disappeared!” 

They all look at Yixing. He remembers sending out rage and protectiveness and power from his palms to restrain the vile mass, and then, he doesn't exactly know what he did next.

“Uh, he’s not dead, I don’t think. I just had enough to send him… away.”

“Away?”

“I’m not sure where,” Yixing admits. “Just away. Away from you guys. Away from… us.”

“I should’ve realized,” Kyungsoo says quietly. “That’s why we were healing so fast when we were around you. I’m sorry, I should’ve seen this coming, we could’ve avoided all this trouble.”

Yixing shakes his head. “I’m fine, aren’t I? We all are.”

Junmyeon smiles warmly at him. “Yes, thanks to you. Welcome, guardian of life.”

“Does this mean I get to pick an animal form?”

“Personally,” Baekhyun starts, “I think you would make a really cute rabbit.” 

 

\--

 

Jongin’s huddled in the corner of his bed when Yixing retires back to his room. “Are you hiding from me?”

The dog whines. 

“I’m not making you breakfast if you continue sulking.”

He huffs, and Yixing watches in fascination as the dog transforms into a human before his very eyes. Jongin wraps himself under the covers and avoids Yixing’s gaze. 

“You promised me omelettes for the rest of my life.”

“I suppose I did. Now what’s wrong?”

Jongin fiddles with Yixing’s comforter, jaw tight. “It’ll be dangerous for you now, as well. I don’t want that.”

“I know,” Yixing says. 

That’s why you always slipped out when you thought I wouldn’t notice. That’s why you sleep with your arms around me as if shielding me. That’s why you can’t look me in the eye now. 

“Perhaps none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t first come to you,” Jongin says, voice trembling. “You wouldn’t have been saddled with this.”

 _With me._

Yixing lifts his hand to Jongin’s face, rests it there. “Do you remember the promise I made you? When we first met?” 

Jongin nods.

“I thought at first it was because I couldn’t stand the sight of this poor dog, acting all brave even when he’d been so beat up.” Yixing has to smile at Jongin’s scowl. He thumbs Jongin’s cheek. “And then I realized it was probably because I couldn’t bear the thought of the dog not returning, not coming home to me. I need him here, just as much as he needs me. I never want him to leave. I want to protect him, just as he did me. And if that means having to be a guardian, then being a guardian is just fine. You understand what I’m saying?”

Jongin blinks at him, and then a deep flush spreads across his cheeks, rising up to his ears. He tackles Yixing in a bone-crushing hug, and they crash onto the bed, laughing. 

“I love you,” Jongin says, breathless. “Yixing, I love you.”

Outside, they hear Baekhyun fake-retching. 

“You’re sleeping in the basket tonight,” Jongin yells hotly in retaliation, as Yixing tries unsuccessfully to contain his mirth. “Scratch that, you’re sleeping in there forever!”

Baekhyun cackles and skips away, and Yixing pulls Jongin close and kisses him.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I wonder what the rest of their animal forms would be.  
> 2\. Also on [LJ](http://caesiumlight.livejournal.com/8064.html).


End file.
